1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of wireless communications. More specifically, the present invention relates to opening a virtual serial communications port with a legacy application over a wireless communication network. Moreover, the present invention relates to a user interface for selecting a remote electronic device in a wireless communication network for communication purposes.
2. Related Art
Wireless communication technologies allow for the replacement of the many proprietary cables that connect one physical device to another physical device with a wireless communication link. For example, printers, personal digital assistants (PDAs) or handheld computers, personal desktop computers, fax machines, keyboards, joysticks and virtually any other digital device can be coupled together as part of a wireless communication network.
The wireless communication network provides a universal bridge to data networks, a peripheral interface, and a mechanism to form small private ad-hoc groupings of connected devices away from fixed network infrastructures. In other words, instead of transferring data over physical cable connections, data is transferred over the wireless communication network.
Serial communication ports in different electronic devices previously were connected using wired serial connections. The serial communication port in a local device was associated with a remotely located hardware device that could perform a single function or multiple functions. In other words, a piece of hardware that promoted serial communication would be associated with or configured to a single communication port. As such, there would be a one-to-one relationship between a remotely located hardware device and the serial communication port located on a local device.
However, in a wireless communication network, a serial port on a local electronic device could be associated with any one of numerous remote electronic devices. All of these devices are part of a local wireless network. Since the devices can roam, devices that are associated with a local network at one moment may not be associated with the same local network at another moment. The devices may roam between different local wireless networks, or the devices may simply roam out the range of the local network.
The constant roaming of devices can create a flexible network environment. However, legacy applications that are not compatible with a wireless communication standard are configured to serial communication ports that no longer have a one-to-one relationship with a constant remote electronic device, as in a printer, or with an unknown remote electronic device that has a particular functionality, such as a remote device with facsimile functionality. As such, since the legacy application assumes incorrectly that only one remote device is available for communication, communication between a legacy application with a particular functionality and a second application on a remote device with the same functionality many times will fail or simply cannot occur. The failure occurs because the legacy application is unaware of multiple devices, and incapable of selecting a device to which a communication port is connected.
In the case where multiple remote electronic devices exist in a local network, each of which are capable of supporting the particular functionality of the application on a local device, the legacy application is incapable of selecting between the numerous remote devices. In the case where only a single remote electronic device is available over a local network, establishing a wireless connection between the remote device and the local device may take too long. The serial communication port may be opened and data from the application may be sent to the serial communication port before a wireless communication path is established between the local device and the remote device. In this case, the transfer of data will again fail.
Thus, a need exists for a method and apparatus for legacy application communication over a wireless communication network containing numerous remote devices. Another need exists for legacy application integration with a wireless communication network for establishing a connection to a particular remote device.